Oh what a win. The Yankees made it nice and easy with an enormous second inning while CC Sabathia cruised for eight relatively stress-free innings. They got everything they needed and more on Monday.

Welcome back, Tex. (Elsa/Getty)

36 Minutes, 12 Seconds

When you score nine runs in one inning, it’s bound to take a while. The Yankees walloped Clay Buchholz and (to a lesser extent) embedded Yankee Al Aceves for nine runs in the second inning, taking all the drama out of this game before it really even had a chance to start. Here is the chain of events…

Robinson Cano homered to dead center to leadoff the inning. It hit the windows of the restaurant, which I believe makes him the first Yankee to do that. I know Russell Branyan did it a few years ago while with the Mariners.

Nick Swisher singled on a hard-hit ground ball back through the middle. Buchholz did a little dance to get out of the way.

Curtis Granderson hit a two-run homer to right. Second deck shot that looked like it might be headed foul for a second or two. It tied Granderson’s career-high in homers at 41, set last year.

Russell Martin homered to right-center. A fan in Red Sox gear reached over the wall to catch the ball but missed. It hit the top of the wall and bounced into his hat, which he was using as a glove. The umpires looked at the replay and ruled it a dinger.

Alex Rodriguez hit a sacrifice fly to left, a little line drive/fly ball (fliner?). It was his first RBI in 57 plate appearances, though it would have been just 33 plate appearances if Melky Mesa hadn’t forgotten to step on third base.

Cano doubled into the right-center field gap to clear the bases. It was an absolute rocket, giving him six total bases in the inning and his seventh consecutive multi-hit game.

Teixeira homered into the second deck in right. It was his second at-bat off the DL (and of the inning) and had that good sound, if you know what I mean. This hit and Cano’s two hits were crushed.

Swisher doubled down the right field line before Granderson grounded out to first to finally end the inning.

All told, the two Red Sox pitchers threw 57 total pitches in the inning. The four homers tied the franchise record for one inning, done twice before and as recently as 2005. The nine runs were a single-inning high for the season, and the previous high (seven) was done three times, including twice in the 15-9 comeback in Fenway Park. After having just one six extra-base hit game in September, the Yankees had six in one inning of their first game of October. It was a massacre.

(Elsa/Getty)

200 Innings

The Red Sox trotted out a full blown Triple-A caliber lineup on Monday as Dustin Pedroia sat out with an injured thumb and Jacoby Ellsbury sat against the tough lefty. Cody Ross and Jarrod Saltalamacchia were only Boston starters who could pass for big league regulars. It certainly wasn’t the type of lineup we’re used to seeing that team run out there, that’s for sure.

Anyway, the weak lineup meant an easy night for Sabathia. He pitched around a leadoff double in the second, surrendered a solo homer to Daniel Nava in the fourth, and allowed another run in the seventh (walk, wild pitch, ground out, sac fly). It was a very stress-free outing for Sabathia, who struck out seven, walked one, and allowed just four hits in eight innings. I was and wasn’t surprised that Joe Girardi left him in that long — surprised because pulling him early could have set him up to pitch in a potential wildcard play-in game on three days’ rest if needed, not surprised because this game was crazy important the bullpen hardly qualifies as shutdown.

The eight full innings got Sabathia up to exactly 200 innings on the season, the sixth consecutive season he’s reached that plateau. Believe it or not, it’s the first time he’s thrown fewer than 230 (!) innings since 2006. That’s kinda crazy. Two-hundred is a lot of innings but fewer than he’s used to throwing, so maybe that’s a blessing in disguise heading into the postseason. Either way, that’s three very strong starts in a row to finish the year for Sabathia, which is very good news.

Between the series finale against the Blue Jays and this game, Cano had hits in six consecutive at-bats at one point: double, double, push bunt single, homer, double, double. That’s kind of insane. He’s absolutely locked in at exactly the right time. His second double in this game set a new career-high with 48 two-baggers. Robbie’s working on career bests in doubles and dingers. Love it.

Believe it or not, only three Yankees had multiple hit games despite all of that offense. Cano (three), Swisher (three), and Granderson (two) did the honors. A-Rod was the only starter who failed to reach base while Jeter (one) and Chavez (two) made up for their hitless nights with walks. After scoring 10+ runs just nine times in the first 149 games of the season, they’ve now done it four times in their last dozen games. That’s pretty awesome.

Brett Gardner got an at-bat in the eighth and actually swung the bat, which I guess means the doctors cleared him and his elbow. I can’t imagine he’ll take playing time away from either Ichiro or Swisher at this point, but it’s still good news. Mesa also got an at-bat in the eighth, picking up his first big league hit and RBI with a ground ball single passed the shortstop. Chavez was yelling at him to touch the base from the dugout, which was awesome.

Last, but certainly not least, Freddy Garcia threw a perfect ninth inning to nail down the win. Two ground balls to third and a strikeout. Nice and easy.

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights while ESPN has the updated standings. The Orioles lost to the Rays, so the Yankees are now one game up in the AL East with two to play. The magic number is just two. I suppose it’s worth noting that with the win, the Athletics would now have to come to the Bronx for a potential wildcard play-in game if it comes to that. Prior to this game the Yankees would have had to go out west. That’s clinched, Oakland can’t win home field advantage back.

The weather forecast isn’t great, but these same two teams are scheduled to play the penultimate game of the regular season on Tuesday evening. David Phelps, not Ivan Nova, will get the ball against Jon Lester. Make sure you check out RAB Tickets for some last minute deals if you want to catch the game.

Always had faith in the MelkMan parte dos! Great to see him realize his potential as a pinch hitter!

ThatstheMelkyMesaWaysa

Always had faith in the MelkMan parte dos! Great to see him realize his potential as an MLB player! He’s a first ballot hall of famer with that career batting average.

goterpsgo

Two more wins by NYY, TEX, and TAM would be awesome…

CUYanks

Throw in 3 from LAA too.

Laz

Exactly what i’m hoping for. at least if texas can hold on and win tonight it means the rays have something still to play for again tommorow.

Richard Leo

Hope Rangers will lose tonight
Martin Perez is not that good

Winter

Naw. If the Rangers win, Tampa still has something to play for. If they lose Tampa’s eliminated. I don’t really buy into the “something to play for” stuff–I think a team plays hard just to play spoiler–but even if it makes the slightest difference I want Tampa playing as hard as they can.

CUYanks

I think bullpen management can be a little better in desperate times. For example, if the game matters, you might see Rodney for 6 outs or David Price show up in relief. If it doesn’t, I doubt you see that kind of thing.

Yankee Fan 1

Love the magic number picture

Kramerica Industries

What was the tiebreaker that gave the A’s the home field in the first place?

forensic

The first tie-breaker is season series, which they split.

Then it goes to intradivision record, which would favor Oakland if they win 2 or 3 of their games and the Yankees lose two.

That’s why I don’t believe Mike is correct here.

Need Pitching & Hitting

Oakland can still finish with the better overall record as well.

Need Pitching & Hitting

or I can just scroll down before posting.

forensic

Heh, it’s all good. Not sure where Mike was getting any of that though.

Get Phelps Up

I just love hoe the Sox went out of their way to start Stewart against the Orioles and Buchholz against the Yankees and Buchholz pitches even worse than Stewart did.

Austin Aunelowitzky

Feeling a good night’s sleep ahead.

gc

Wow, that escalated quickly. I mean, that really got out of hand fast. Brick killed a guy!

DERP

Red sox: not our rival, just our bitch

forensic

I suppose it’s worth noting that with the win, the Athletics would now have to come to the Bronx for a potential wildcard play-in game if it comes to that. Prior to this game the Yankees would have had to go out west. That’s clinched, Oakland can’t win home field advantage back.

What am I missing that makes this the case? If the Yankees lose the next 2 games, Oakland can still pass them or tie them (where they had the tiebreaker as of last night) and thus get home-field.

Get Phelps Up

Tigers enjoying a celebration before getting knocked out of the playoffs by the Yankees.

Kramerica Industries

From your lips to Mo’s ears.

forensic

Unfortunately, tonight wasn’t all good news.

We found out that the worst umpire in baseball will be behind the plate for game 162 when it’s possible there will be a ton on the line.

Cy Pettitte

if the Yankees and Rangers tie for best record in the AL, what is the tiebreaker?

forensic

Should start with the season series, which the Yanks won 4-3.

Get Phelps Up

Yankees would get it, they have a better head to head record.

Laz

That is really surprising. The Yankees were very mediocre for so many months, and now they are tied at 93 wins for al lead.

Robinson Tilapia

Now this, this, THIS may finally nail down the award for my favorite win of the regular season. Now lets finish dem O’s.

http://yanksgoyard.com/ Joe F

Sadly the Cowboys have ruined my night even with this great Yankees win and Orioles loss.

forensic

That’s what you get for rooting for a team with Tony Romo on it.

forensic

Holy crap, 5 interceptions??? That’s even bad for Romo.

http://yanksgoyard.com/ Joe F

Eh. Dez ran the wrong route on one. Then Ogletree tipped the ball into the air. Other one DLmen hit into Briggs hands.

What a fantastic win, let’s clinch it tomorrow so we can play all the kids on Wednesday!

forensic

If they happen to clinch over the Rangers too, then go for it. Otherwise, I want the regulars playing Wednesday still to get home-field throughout. They’re a very different team on the road vs. home. If they just clinch the division, they’ll already have Thursday and Friday off, play them on Wednesday.

captain kiwi

i forgot dallas braden was with the a’s. i kinda want them to lose out now.

dkidd

best graph of the year

forensic

If it was upside down, it’d be pretty emblematic of the Red Sox signs of life this season.

dkidd

i like this mike trout kid

professional hitter

forensic

Guess Felix decided to start his offseason a little early…

Laz

Blows any chance of his cy young now. Goes from 2.86 era to 3.06 Now down to Verlander and Price.

Does anybody think the yanks should have taken out Sabathia after 6 innings to rest him?

Laz

No, he was cruising, If they can win the division they don’t need to worry about the wildcard game. I also want the bullpen well rested for the postseason. The entire rotation has not been shutdown lately and they haven’t been going deep.

Laz

Also not a big fan of resting the players. 162 game regular season, there is most 19 playoff games. They can rest in November, they need to keep their rythm going.

http://yanksgoyard.com/ Joe F

So Miggy for MVP? Triple Crown. WAR more helpful to Trout’s defensive play. Miggy is the better hitter.

dkidd

trout deserves it

random question: according to war, alex gordon is the 5th best player in the american league

how is that possible?

CUYanks

Also, Rick Porcello is basically equivalent to Jered Weaver, last I checked.

forensic

I still can’t go by all those stats only because there are too many questions. A 4 WAR difference between Trout and Cabrera? I’m not so sure I buy that, especially with Trout not being in the majors for April.

Speaking of which, people will punish pitchers for missing time and not having the IP to match others, but no one takes anything away from Trout for missing a whole month? I know it’s not necessarily his fault, but it still matters.

captain kiwi

i think trout missing april speaks more to his case for mvp. imagine if he’d had another month to stat-pad.

forensic

Or maybe it’s another month for pitchers and teams to figure out some weak point and he struggles for a month. Or maybe he gets tired playing a full 162 game season at the MLB level and intensity.

His August and September OPS’s were the lowest of his season. It’s not absurd to think it could’ve gone lower if he had another month still to go.

captain kiwi

it’s not absurd to think it could’ve gone lower, but it’s also not absurd to think his numbers would be even gaudier if he played in april. yeah, he’s opsing at a lower clip, but it’s still damn good.

i agree that people should be mad that trout missed april. but only because we were deprived an entire month of him and instead had to hear about that whiny kid over in dc.

forensic

It’s kind of amazing how much of a possible afterthought he’s become. I don’t remember the players, since I don’t care too much about NL baseball, but people had several others above him on their ROY picks. He’s also really struggled against lefties, but has at least torn the cover off the ball in September.

Of course, this all comes with the caveat that he’s still 19 and that’s impressive enough.

captain kiwi

my thoughts exactly. crazy that he’s no longer the auto-lock for ROY, crazier still the numbers he’s had before even turning 20 (even halfway through the postseason).

Laz

Makes sense Porcello vs Weaver. FG’s war is based off of FIP, innings pitched, and the park they are in. Weaver actually got more innings so that helps him.

XFIP:
Por 3.86
Wea 4.18

I’m not a fan of position players war. It relies largely on defense and uzr. Some players such as gardner get rewarded extensively by war for playing an easier position. If gardner moved to cf his war would go down, although he would be more valuable to the team in real world.

forensic

I agree, especially with how much UZR varies year to year. Of course Trout is better than Cabrera in those two things, but by as enormous a margin as they make it out to be, I’m not sure.

Plus, fangraphs hitting portion of WAR even has Trout higher than Cabrera, which I certainly don’t get. They’re basically even in BA and OBP, but Cabrera has a 50 point advantage in SLG. Do they subtract that much for GIDP’s? Maybe Cabrera just needs to try to stretch more of his 40+ doubles into triples to help…

Need Pitching & Hitting

I think Fangraphs includes SB/CS in the batting portion instead of baserunning for some reason. If so, that would explain most/all of the seeming discrepancy.

forensic

And that makes even less sense, since he already gets an enormous advantage from their baserunning portion.

But that also means that miggy’s hits are alot better although scored the same. Imagine jeter on 1st. A trout double will probably only get him over to 3rd base, whereas a miggy double will get him around to home.

I think Trout is the better all around player, but miggy is definetely the better hitter.

dkidd

i’m grumpy about the 2-3 format for the division series. having the first 2 games at home in a 5 game series is huge for the lower seed. anyone but the tigers, please

CUYanks

Yes. Terrible job by baseball doing everything last minute and affecting the integrity of the playoffs.

CUYanks

Career win number 191 for the big guy. Even in a year with a bunch of missed time, he reeled off 15 wins. How do people like his shot at 300 wins? Also, I find it interesting that CC has finished 3 of his 4 NYY seasons with exactly 197 k’s.

Laz

Was looking at this earlier, and while possible it’ll be a stretch, but entirely possible. He is actually ahead of where clemens was at when he was the same age. His age 32 season was also much better. It’ll help if he can get a few 20 win seasons.

forensic

It’s possible, but not if his DL stints this year were a sign of his body starting to give in or break down.

Laz

Still reached 200 innings. Sure he is starting to age, but even in a terrible season for him he is only throwing 200 innings that is fine. Every one of his 12 seasons he has thrown at least 180 innings, only is that low because of his rookie season.

Slu

My first game at the stadium since 2009. Quite enjoyable.

Mike

I was there too, and will be there on Wednesday for the finale.

Mike

A’s win, all 5 playoff teams are set

Something I just noticed, the AL had 0 playoff temas going into yesterday, now they have all 5

The NL has had 4 playoff teams for at least a week and they still do not have 5.

Mike

Sounds like a “You can’t predict baseball” type thing.

Laz

AL has turned into a rough place. The most any team can win now is 95 wins. That hasn’t been enough to win the AL East since 2005. Just think how much tougher it could be next year to get into the playoffs. Houston will be giving away 110 wins to the Angels, A’s, and the Rangers.

tipsie

With the A’s defeat of the Rangers:

If NYY loses the division,

NYY is guaranteed to HOST the wild-card game (vs either Tex or Oak)

I believe that I heard this somewhere tonight; anyone else confirm?

Here’s hoping that Joe Maddon has his boys playing hard tonight vs Baltimore

Mike

No, Oakland can still host the Yankees if they finish with the same record which is possible

If the A’s finish 1-1, Yankees finish 0-2 and Orioles finish 2-0, O’s get East, Yankees and A’s have equal records for the wild card, and A’s have tiebreaker over Yankees due to better intradivision record.

I don’t see us losing the East though. O’s must win both to stand a chance because the Yankees certainly are not losing 2 to Boston. Maybe 1, but not 2.

forensic

It’s not even just that, Oakland can still finish with a better record than the Yanks, negating any tie-breakers.

No idea where this is all coming from tonight.

tipsie

If Oakland finishes with a better record than NYY, they will have won their division; three possibilities for them: 68 losses, division winner; 69 losses, wild-card; 70 losses wild-card

Mike

Correct tipsie, which is why I was saying that the A’s can still host the Yankees in a wild card game if they tie for the same record.

There is a possibility the 2 teams finish 93-69 (Yankees go 0-2, A’s go 1-1). And if the O’s go 2-0, they’d go 94-68 and win the East.

It is not possible, however, for Texas to host a wild card game against NY, though it’s possible we do see a Texas/NY wild card game, however Yankees would be the home team.

forensic

You’re right, my bad, I’ve been ignoring Texas in that situation for some reason. But still, Oakland can still host the Yankees in a wild-card game if it comes to that.

Mike

I know they can finish with a better record than the Yankees still, but he’s referring to if they (Yankees and A’s) get the wild card.

rek4gehrig

If we lose 1 to Boston and O’s win 2, then we go to one game playoff with O, correct? I dont want that. We MUST sweep Boston.

forensic

The Red Sox are now guaranteed to finish the season with their 2nd worst record in 80(!) years.

Given the market and payroll (at least before the Dodgers went insane), how is this not a bigger story than the non-story it is now?

MannyGeee

the media in Boston is not referring to this as a ‘disaster’, but more considering it a ‘public relations nightmare’…

better in print, I suppose.

dalelama

“Alex Rodriguez hit a sacrifice fly to left, a little line drive/fly ball (fliner?). It was his first RBI in 57 plate appearances, though it would have been just 33 plate appearances if Melky Mesa hadn’t forgotten to step on third base.”

Arod’s Great Choke of 2012 is so pathetic we are now making excuses for him? Let’s hope Old Purple Lips can pull his head out of his ass in case his September disappearance doesn’t cost us the playoffs.

Jim Is Bored

So what team do you actually root for?

Dela G

Hell’s team, that’s who

Wil Nieves Number 1 Fan

So CC finished with 200 IP, 8.87 K/9, 1.98 BB/9, and his third best GB rate of his career through 28 starts in a season which he was on the DL and some poor luck with the homer. Love our non-ace.

MannyGeee

worth mentioning that Nick Swisher, before hitting the double, was about 3 feet wide right from hitting a moonshot that woulda made a 10 run inning…

Agaqin for emphasis… TEN RUN INNING. How awesome would that have been?